JAPANESE INDUSTRIAL MENACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22257, 9 May 1934, Page 6

JAPANESE INDUSTRIAL MENACE

The determination of the British Government to protect the primary and secondary industries of the United Kingdom, having, as evidenced in the quota proposals, caused concern in the dominions, is now exhibited in its declaration of policy regarding Japanese competition. It is an ironic circumstance that the decision of the Government to place quota restrictions on the imports of Japanese cotton and rayon should be made by such a confirmed Freetrader as Mr Walter Runciman; but it is a circumstance that gives earnest of the resolution of the Government in this matter.' Lancashire and Yorkshire have been most adversely affected by the flooding of the British colonies and protectorates with Japanese textiles, at costs which do not permit English manufacturers to compete, and pressure has for a considerable time been exerted on the Government to afford them relief. The negotiations with the Japanese Government have been protracted and unprofitable.. While they dragged on, Japanese industrialists continued to cut the market from under the feet of English textile manufacturers. However regrettable it may be that the British Government should be, forced into what is virtually an economic war with a friendly Power, it was impossible that' the negotiations should be permitted' to go on interminably under the prevailing conditions. Japan has proved in more than one respect to be somewhat intractable, and it had become more than sufficiently obvious that she had no reasonable concessions to suggest for the sake of economic peace. Under the measures now announced, Great Britain will proceed forthwith to protect the Home market from flooding with silk goods, while the colonies and protectorates, with the exception of West Africa, where the restriction will apply only, to Japanese imports, will impose a quota on all foreign imports of cotton and rayon goods, affecting, it is said, twothirds of the Japanese shipments of these articles. The decision contains possibilities the end of which, as the Manchester Guardian recently . observed, no one can see. It had become necessary, however, that Great Britain should protect her vital industries from a competition which on the face of it created an impossible position. Not only cotton and silk, but other industries are being armed to defend themselves against the Japanese industrial assault. While the measures now taken are not final and irrevocable but intended rather to impress upon the Japanese Government the seriousness of the position from the British point of view, they afford the illustration that Great Britain has wrought an effective weapon with which to engage in commercial bargaining.